No Escape!

‘I’m coming to get you now,’ he said,

‘I’m coming to get you tonight!’

Derek sat with his headset on,

His face was white with fright.

‘I think you have the wrong guy,’ he said,

‘It couldn’t be me you mean!’

‘Oh yes, I’m coming to get you now,

I know you, Derek McLean.’

 

He sat there silent as eerie chills

Spread up and along his spine,

A face came on his computer screen

That rang some bell in his mind.

‘This better not be a joke,’ he said,

‘You’d better not mess with me!’

The voice in the headset chuckled low

In some evil deviltry.

 

‘It’s taken a while to track you down,

But track you down I did,

You should have stayed off the Internet,

Covered your head, and hid.’

‘I’ve nothing to hide from,’ Derek said,

But his voice broke high in alarm,

‘You’ll never be able to block it out,

That day on Emerson’s Farm.’

 

At the very mention of Emerson’s Farm

The listener held his breath,

For years he’d struggled to block it out,

The site of that childhood death.

They’d played together in sodden fields

And had ventured into the marsh,

Thinking to pick the bluebells there

But the end of that was harsh.

 

‘I’d like to know who you are,’ he said,

But his words came out in a whine,

‘You know full well, do I have to tell,

I’m here for the second time.

You left me there and you ran on home

As I sank in there to my neck,

You had no care for my tiny life

But tonight, I’ll teach you respect.’

 

Derek shuddered and hit the switch

To turn the computer off,

But nothing flickered, the screen stayed on

And Derek began to cough.

‘Have you any idea what it’s like to drown

In a sludge of grass and mud?

It isn’t pleasant, I’ll tell you that

You should try it once, you should!’

 

Derek coughed and began to choke

In a fit of remorse, and fear,

He’d tried to forget the little bloke

Who had haunted him, year by year.

The doctor, when he examined him

Said, ‘Heart attack, and he choked.

His eyes are staring, as if in fear

But there’s mud in the back of his throat!’

 

David Lewis Paget

Reviews

[Devanshu Rajput]

WoW! Again a 'kicker' at the end. Gave a chill down my backbone. A cruel vengeance! I have heard sometimes that internet can be dangerous, but dangerous in this manner. Used as a means for revenge? Unbelievable!

It has the potential to horrify someone, more than the horror films.

Thanks for making us have this poem.

Devanshu

[A Soap Mess Stories]

This gave me chills while reading! Kreepy!

[R Smith]

nice touch David, the ghost come back for revenge and leaves a mystery for those have to investigate, wonderful writing :)

[MomzillaNC]

Dark tale of high-tech retribution. Brilliant, as always.

[Marie]

THis is a very high-tech ghost. A wronged soul can come back from the dead for revenge, but to come through the Internet takes computer skills.

[Valentine]

What a ending. I was expecting something more to make him suffer, but it seems his own conscience got the best of him.. Mud in the throat...how clever. Valentine

[ANTO]

Deliciously dark David -

very well constructed horror - finely tuned with gems like 'evil deviltry' and tight rhymes like 'mean' and 'Mclean'

I liked the idea of the computer staying on after being turned off - chilling - as a computer tech I wanted to suggest turning it off and on again xD

The mud in the throat was pardon the pun, the coup de grace here. Excellent !!

[Ehra Khan]

Wow! this one gave me the chills! a masterpiece indeed! keep it up sir!